Registration Begins Today for the University of Hamburg’s Online, English-Language Course on Women’s Buddhist Ordination

…The University of Hamburg will be accepting applications from February 1 to March 15 for an online course on bhikkhuni/bhikshuni ordination (the two spellings are Pali and Sanskrit, respectively, reflecting the different lineages from which these ordinations derive). According to the course material, “Parti­ci­pants in the class will gain know­led­ge of the th­ree Vina­ya schools in re­gards to bhikk­hu­ni or­di­na­ti­on, and, ta­king an aca­de­mic ap­proach, de­ve­lop the abi­li­ty to ana­ly­ze the com­ple­xi­ties in­vol­ved in ap­p­lying the Buddha’s ideal of the Four­fold Sangha in the con­ven­tio­nal world. Fi­nal­ly, stu­dents will learn about the st­ra­te­gies wo­men ha­ve ad­op­ted in or­der to pur­sue their re­nun­ci­ant aspi­ra­ti­ons, in the con­text of chal­len­ges they ha­ve faced due to gen­der bias.”

The course, which consists of 13 weekly English-language lectures with an online discussion platform, will run from April 17 to July 10. It’s being offered as part of the university’s Women in Buddhism Study Initiative, cosponsored by the Numata Center for Buddhist Translation.

All the information about the class, including a lists of courses (with the names of featured lecturers), and registration information can be found right here.